Woman forced to abort five female foetuses

Amisha Yagnik has accused her husband and in-laws of coercing her into undergoing abortion five times at various clinics in Anand and Vadodara in the past nine years.

The husband and in-laws of a 32-year-old woman were arrested on Sunday for allegedly forcing her to abort five female foetuses and tormenting her for dowry. The three, who are natives of Anand, were apprehended after the woman, Amisha Yagnik, revealed to the Vastrapur police how she was press-ganged into undergoing abortions between August 2001 and January this year.

Amisha alleges that her husband, Priyavadan, and in-laws, Gunvantrai and Niranjana Bhatt, forced her to undergo illegal tests that help determine the sex of an unborn child and abortions at various clinics in Anand and Vadodara.

Amisha filed a police complaint on June 12

Amisha, who currently lives with her parents in Vastrapur, claims that she had to literally run away from her husband’s home in Anand to give birth to her daughter, Kamya.

“My husband and his parents are obsessed with having a boy in the family. In the past nine years, they have coerced me into aborting five female foetuses,” the aggrieved 32-year-old told Ahmedabad Mirror. “They don’t consider me a human being. They think I am a machine (that produces babies).”

Amisha aborted her first child in 2001
Amisha married Priyavadan on December 1, 2000. Amisha claims that in just a few months of her marriage, Priyavadan and his parents started demanding dowry. She has told the Vastrapur police that she became pregnant for the first time early in 2001. Priyavadan and his parents, Amisha alleges, coaxed her into undergoing a child sex determination test at Amee Hospital in Anand on August 15, 2001.

Amisha has told the Vastrapur police that the doctor who ran the hospital, Kirit Patel, revealed the sex of her child to Priyavadan through a code word, Jay Mataji. She alleges that her husband and in-laws then took her back home and thrashed her.

A few days later, the three allegedly later took her back to the hospital, made her sign a few documents and forced her to abort the child. The three then apparently paid Rs 3,000 as hush money to Dr Patel. “After the first abortion, Priyavadan and his parents stepped up their demand for dowry,” Amisha has said in her police complaint.

The 32-year-old woman became pregnant for the second time in 2002. Her in-laws, however, took her to a clinic run by Dr Ramesh Patel, who allegedly subjected her to an illegal child sex determination test. After Amisha’s in-laws learnt that she was expecting a girl, they again allegedly coerced her into giving up the child.

In January 2004, Amisha was again expecting a girl child. Fearing that Priyavadan and his parents would force her to undergo an abortion, Amisha ran to her parents’ home in Vastrapur. She didn’t return to Anand until she gave birth to Kamya.

She faced divorce threats
When Privyavadan and his parents came to know about Kamya’s birth, they abused Amisha’s parents. Priyavadan even apparently threatened to divorce her. However, Amisha’s parents managed to persuade Priyavadan to take her back. By the end of 2004, Amisha was pregnant again.

After finding out the sex of the baby, Priyavadan and his parents allegedly took her to Amee Hospital in Anand, and made her undergo yet another abortion on December 13, 2004. Three years later when the 32-year-old woman became pregnant for the fifth time, she was made to abort her child at the same hospital.

On January 9 this year, Amisha’s husband and in-laws forced her to give up another child at Shruti Clinic in Vadodara after learning it was a girl. The 32-year-old woman and her parents then approached a social welfare group, Yogsham Foundation. Members of the group advised them to file a police complaint. A member of the foundation, Rajendra Shukla, later helped Amisha and her parents meet DCP (zone 1) B K Jha, who then directed officials of the Vastrapur police station to file a complaint.

“Apart from making me undergo abortions, my husband and in-laws also harassed me for dowry,” Amisha said. Her father, Jaimin Yagnik, said that could not fulfil dowry demands as he was a retiree. “I did all I could for my daughter when I was working. However, after I retired, it was difficult for me to pay dowry,” Yagnik, who worked with ONGC as an engineer, said.

Meanwhile, an inspector of the Vastrapur police station, R K Ladva, said that action would be taken against the doctors who conducted child sex determination tests.